Wednesday, March 22, 2006

1. I don't have much time to post since today I have to give a lecture on 13th-century heresy to the class for which I am a TA. The 12th- and 13th-centuries were an incredible time for the development of Christianity, but they were also terribly brutal. The same religious fervor that created St Francis could spill out in many directions, and the Church lost the opportunity to dialogue with several of those, ultimately choosing to repress them instead. In our multidenominational society, it is hard to understand how dangerous a threat to unity seemed to people of that time. The paralyzing fear, however, that one word could install in society may be more familiar. Then it was "heresy." Fifty years ago it was "communism." Now it is "terrorism."

2. The Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, has written an op-ed about proposed legislation on immigration that has already been passed in the House of Representatives. This law would not only involve harsher and more punitive treatment of illegal immigrants themselves, but would also criminalize their "accomplices"--that is, anyone who provides any human kindness to these people. Mahony has said that if the law is passed, he will order his priests to defy it and continue to give humanitarian aid to immigrants. This is a courageous and thoroughly Christian position.

3. How I see the NCAA tournament: The Jesuits are still alive, on two fronts. My brackets have the Northwest Jesuits beating the Augustinians in the final. I would be happy to see the Augustinians win as well.

There are Methodists (Duke) still alive, but as I am a Kentucky fan I can't root for them. Too much baggage. Eveidently religion only takes you so far. Then it bumps up against your secular religion and dies a painful death.